The event
was to be held on August 9 at a location specified for the purposes by the executive
committee.

Activists
of the Free Trade Union of Metalworkers were going to protest against the fact
that the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus delays the issue of a
stamp and the Union’s Charter to the trade union leader Aliaksandr Bukhvostau.

The ban
refers to the fact that the police cannot protect law and order during the mass
event.

Local FTUM
leader Halina Lisitsyna emphasizes that the application for a picket was filed
in accordance with the law two weeks before the planned event, and that the
picket was expected to involve 10 people.

"We
are very surprised and outraged that the picket is banned. Moreover, it was to
be held in the place approved by the authorities, on a pitch outside the Khimik
stadium. Now we are consulting about what we do next and whether we need to
appeal the decision,” says Halina Lisitsyna.